There was a time when finding a developer was difficult, but times have changed and so has the skill set of developers around the globe. Knowing how to code in C++ or Java are no longer skills that you can boast about. So is programming still a good career choice? It definitely is.

The value of a skill is directly proportional to the market demand and the supply of qualified programmers for that skill. It’s important to master the right programming language so once you achieve a decent level of understanding in it your pay and quality of work environment will increase accordingly.

We know what you are thinking, ‘So, is Rust the right programming language to learn?” Well, let’s check the numbers and see for ourselves.

1. Popularity Scale

Stack Overflow conducts annual survey to determine the status of different programming languages and the choices of the developers and programmers across the globe. Since the participants are either learning or working on the programming language, it gives a fair idea around how a particular language is expected to perform in the current year and the next couple of years to follow.
In the Stack Overflow Developer survey conducted in year 2015, the first year since the birth of Rust, developers ranked Rust 3rd in the list with 73.8% people including it in their ‘Most Loved’ programming language list. Rust went a step ahead in 2016 and topped the charts with 79.1% people including it in their ‘Most-Loved’ list. What makes this list all the more relevant is the fact that in the year 2016, out of all the participants, 67.8% were full time employees working as developers or programmers. Says a lot about what the future holds for Rust, doesn’t it?

2. Salary Scale

What is the benefit of using a popular and in demand programming language if its effects do not reflect in our salary accounts every month? Keeping that in mind, we have also looked at the top paying techs and where Rust stands among the different programming languages in terms of salary generation.

O’Reilly conducts software development salary surveys on an annual basis capturing data from working professionals about their choice of programming languages, the languages they would like to learn, the languages that they believe would have a bright future and their current salary with the technology they are working on. According to the survey, Rust is expected to overtake C++ and is currently in the most wanted list of developers. Further, Stack overflow’s development survey of 2015 says that a Rust developer gets 131% of the an average developer’s salaries.

Is This the Right Time to Learn Rust?
It is quite understandable if you’re wondering if this might be a little too early to call Rust a great success given that it is just two years old. However, for a language that has achieved so much in just two years, it is only a matter of time before it climbs the list of top programming languages. So, the question is, do you want to be at the top when that happens, or would you prefer to scramble to learn Rust when you realize it truly is in high demand?